Cheyenne
by I Kill Trees
Summary: Bulls, blood, dust, and mud! Miroku is a recovering cowboy, who on the day of his return, is beaten by a cocky silverhaired cowboy. Kagome's stuck as cowboy care team to TWO idiot bull riders. Ropes,reins,joy,and pain, and they call the thing rodeo?
1. Back in the Saddle

**Author's Notes:** New story and definitely alternate universe. It's a romance and who else? Inu/Kag, my darlings. On a little happy note, Miroku and Kagome get to be related! Yay! I always thought they would be cute as family. You know… minus all those times Miroku comes on to her in the anime. Let's not have any incestuous thoughts going on here.  
  
**The Low Down: ** I don't think I've seen an Inuyasha Western yet… It seemed like fun. If you have some experience with rodeo… sorry if there's too much explanation of the process. Just wanted to make everything clear for plot purposes and I'm assuming that it's not the most common knowledge. If it's not enough exposition… let me know and I'll clarify more in later chapters. Giddy-up…  
  
Oh! And I've got to say... I decided that Koga is going to have a role... and I absolutely love it.   
  
  
  
** Cheyenne   
  
Chapter 1  
  
Back in the Saddle  
  
** ***  
  
  
  


_ His eyes are cold and restless.  
His wounds are almost healed.  
_

  
  
Kagome held her breath as they pulled his riggings tight. Miroku was just a little too confident for his own good sometimes and she hated that silly little smirk on his dirty, sweat-streaked face. His hand was already bandaged from his last ride where a 1500 pound hunk of muscle thought it would be fun to hammer it in the ground with a cloven hoof. That hand hadn't even been fully healed from where it had been torn open and beneath the bandage he would carry a scar for the rest of his life. And he was one of the lucky ones-honestly! The man had been tossed, stepped on, bashed, and bruised… and all in the last three hours. _'Don't let 'em grow up to be cowboys…' _ Kagome thought, _'They may not live to grow up!'_  
  
Pummeled or no, Miroku was performing better than he had ever before. He was at the top of the lists and easily favored to win the go-round. Not bad when he was the miracle of the day; only a year prior had she rushed by his side as he lay on a gurney being wheeled into emergency care for what should have been a career ending ride. The bull no man could ride almost took away the only man in her life… and here he was being lashed onto another killing machine of muscle and blood.  
  
"Men are so stupid…" She whispered into the roaring crowd's chants of her brother's name. Miroku waved to them with his free arm and flashed that picture perfect smile he hoped, after today, would grace the covers of magazines. The bull jumped violently in the shoots, and so did Kagome's strained heart, but it couldn't wipe the grin from Miroku's face. Always calm, reserved, confident, charming: the crowd loved him for it and, most times, Kagome just wanted to throw her Dr. Pepper bottle at his head.   
  
They were retightening his riggings, thrown loose by the bull's jolt. A cowboy was not allowed to touch the bull with his free hand at any point during the ride, or he would be disqualified, and should his grip come loose in the ride, he risked a whole lot more than losing a title. Kagome watched in earnest as they pulled the ropes tight, only to have the bull lunge and jump against them again. She caught a worried glint flash across his face only for a moment before it was covered again with that smile.  
  
Nerve is a huge obstacle for a cowboy; once he's decided to put himself on the line, the hard parts over. Then all he has to concentrate on is dipping that hat and holding on for the next eight furious seconds of his life. The longer he's in the shoots however, the harder it is to keep that nerve, and if he looses it, he's lost. They finished tying the straps and Miroku flexed his hand-it was still too lose. The rodeo-hand went to retie it a third time, but Miroku shook his head no and pushed him aside. There was no good in angering his ride even more and there was no way he'd give his nerve a chance to falter. He'd come too far and worked to hard. This was his day.  
  
Miroku took a deep breath and clenched his fist around the piece of leather holding him down to the 1500 pound fury-driven beast below him. He raised his left hand high over his head and tipped his hat.  
  
The gates flung open with a loud bang and a blood red short-horned bull lunged forward into the sand. The whole arena echoed with cheering and people banging the bleachers. The bull threw his neck brutally from side to side and kicked up and out in furious circles. It threw itself to the right, banging into the metal walls of the shoots and almost cracked Miroku's head. It flung itself to the left, jumping and twitching in the air as it's rider jabbed its side with his spurs. Kagome held her breath and kept her eyes on the clock in the big overhead screen and wondered how time could suddenly slow itself down so much-3…4…5 seconds! Miroku was spurring furiously, getting every possible hit he could in to drive up his score. It would be phenomenal! He was in perfect balance with the writhing animal and with all the hit points, no one could beat him--6…7 seconds! He only had to last the full 8 seconds!  
  
The video screen picked up his happy smile as he spurred the beast. He knew he had it. Just as the seventh second ticked off, and with the crowd screaming like maniacs in the background, Miroku lifted his leg to spur again and the bull threw his head down between his front hocks. The bull flung itself forward and upwards, twisting with agility an animal of that size just shouldn't naturally possess, and with force enough to almost throw it on its back in the dirt.  
  
Miroku was air born.  
  
Miroku hit the ground and thought he was going to die from the pain, but instinct alone had him rolling with the momentum and out of the way before he was caught beneath the lumbering body. He kept rolling, desperately trying to escape the promised death by an angry short-horn as the beast struck the ground trying to pin him with its hooves or impale him with the blunt horns on its head. Wasn't it about time to send in the clowns? And here they came! Grown men in huge, brightly colored pants with cowboy hats came rushing up in front of him. His saviors so many times over distracted the animal long enough for him to some distance between himself and the vengeful creature.  
  
Kagome ran from her spot in the stands to the ground levels as her brother heaved himself over the metal barriers wheezing and coughing. She cried to him, getting a cocky little grin as he wiped the dirt from his brow. "Hey Kag…" he coughed out. "Didn't that look like fun?" Miroku caught the tears beginning to form in her eyes and knew he needed to assuage her fears quickly. He gave her a gentler smile and held an arm out in invitation to hug her, which she took and squeezed him gently. He winced and hissed.  
  
"Oh!" she jumped back a foot and jolted her hands up to her mouth. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sor…." Miroku started laughing at her.  
  
"You stupid jerk!" she screamed and punched him cleanly in the shoulder, sending him back several steps. "How can you be so stupid?! Do you really just want to end up dead? Huh?! You just keep putting your life in danger… day… after…" her ranting became choppy as she was steadily losing the fight with the tears coming into her voice. Kagome flung herself in his arms again and sniffled into his dirty shirt. Miroku, not quite sure how to handle his sister's volatile emotions, patted her back soothingly and smiled down at her.  
  
"Hey…" he said softly, "I'm ok. I knew it would be ok, Kagome. You don't have to worry."  
  
She was about to tell him just how much of an idiot he was when the drawling voice came over the loud speaker again. "Miroku Higurashi's ride… 7.8 seconds…" Every member of the audience let out their heartbreak to echo through the air. Kagome felt the exact same disappointment and looked up to see Miroku's eyes clenched shut in pain. His injured hand slowly fisted and relaxed at his side.   
  
He wouldn't place.  
  
Kagome squeezed his uninjured hand to get him to glance down at her and gave her best 'it's-ok-you're-great-and-you'll-beat-them-all-next-time' smile. Ok… so he drove her crazy with worry every time he stepped in the shoots… She just couldn't deny that this was his dream. He was family… her only family now. She'd help and support him however she could. Miroku smiled back at her and gave her small hand a quick squeeze in return. "Let's get out of here. I'm starved." He said. The walked back up the bleachers to the music of "Next time, Miroku!" and "You were great, Miroku!"  
  
Ahh, but crowds are suck fickle beings. A wave of awe swept over the arena as the speaker boomed, "We now welcome, to the bull riding arena, a long absent contender, Inuyasha Taisho!" She and Miroku turned at the unfamiliar name and watched the bull fly from the shoots with a bang. Kagome watched appreciatively at his skill as the cowboy seemed liquid with the bull's thrashing, spurring the animal casually, and beneath his black felt hat a long stream of silver hair whipped behind him. Miroku gapped at the man… he looked like he might use his free hand to pat a yawn any moment!   
  
The clock stopped with a harsh buzz and the crowd went crazy. Eight seconds… The new cowboy had a perfect ride… and this Sunday crowd had a new hero. Kagome gave a stunned glance up at her brother who had turned to stone at her side. He shook himself out of his daze quickly enough when a blonde cowgirl in tight jeans climbed up past them. Kagome soon found herself alone in the stands and chuckled. Miroku tended to get over disappointments quickly. _'Guess he's not too broken up.'_  
  
As always with the rodeo, things moved right along. The bull had hardly been removed when the loud speaker announced the next event, barrel racing, was about to begin. Kagome smiled and decided to find Miroku again later as she took her seat once more as the first rider galloped across the arena. Several perky cowgirls ran the clover pattern with respectable time, but not much to get excited over.  
  
"Kagome!" a shrill yell caught her attention and she noticed a familiar batch of brightly colored fuzz running up the stands to her. A sweet little boy with auburn hair and big green eyes scurried up the bleachers careful not to trip on his oversized, lime-green clown pants. She couldn't help but grin every time she saw him with little fuzzy buttons down the front of his shirt and one big puffy orange fluff ball on the seat of his pants. He was the cutest rodeo clown she had ever seen-- or clown in training at least. He ran up next to her and hugged her neck. "I didn't know if you were coming today!" He said happily.  
  
"Of course, Shippo!" she laughed at the child who insisted on being called his clown name at all times. "It was Miroku's first time back since the accident."  
  
He nodded with a frown and crossed his short arms over his fluffy buttons. "Everyone thought Miroku was going to come out first. Instead it was stolen away from him for some white-haired jerk."  
  
"That Inuyasha guy?" Kagome blinked in surprise. It wasn't like Shippo to think so low of anyone. "Why don't you like him?"  
  
"He's mean, Kagome!" Shippo turned those big, green, sympathy-evoking pools on her full force. "I was just practicing my rope tricks and he took my lariat away!"  
  
Kagome laughed at Shippo's pouting. "You caught him in one of your 'cow traps,' didn't you?" She giggled more as the tips of his ears turned pink in an affirming blush. A 'cow trap' was a simple little rope trick her child friend had invented a few months ago and since the first day he'd proudly shown it to her, many a cowboy had been toppled to the ground by the little rope loop hidden in the sand. "So…" she grinned down at him and decided to let him have another subject. "What do you think of the barrel racers this time?"  
  
He cheered up instantly. "They're pretty good this go-round. They all have had respectable time's so far, but they don't really have much heart. They take their turns wide. It's safer, but it costs them a few seconds." As he spoke, he let his eyes drift shut and his words carried an authority a six-year-old just shouldn't have. But oddly enough, if you wanted information about anything in the rodeo, Shippo was the one to ask, and Kagome easily agreed with him. The cowgirls were good… but they were all the same. Nothing just made them stand out from the rest…  
  
"Yes!" Shippo yelled and bounced to his feet. "She's up! It's her turn finally! They would save her for last…"   
  
And then there was Sango! She burst into the arena on her buckskin mare with her long black ponytail streaming behind her. Kagome was on her feet jumping along with Shippo as she reached the first barrel. Sango threw herself into the turn as the pony circled it only inches away and sent sand flying into the air like water. In a flash, they crossed to the second barrel, swinging around with only a hair's width between Sango's legs and the metal. But Sango held no fear and whipped around to the last barrel of the clover pattern. "Come on Sango!" Kagome yelled from the stands.   
  
"You can do it Sango!" Shippo jumped from foot to foot. "Hurry, Kirara! Hurry!"  
  
"Look at that girl go! Sango comes roaring in and blows every other rider away!" The announcer was screaming over the speakers and the crowds were jumping. "What a ride! What a horse! What a girl!"  
  
"Yes!" Kagome punched the air and jumped in joy with Shippo. "Come on! Let's go find her." She grabbed the child by the hand and ran down the bleachers to the shoots. Without a thought, she swung herself up and over the metal barriers. Shippo yelled out as they dropped to a lower level leading to the arena. Shippo did not appreciate her acrobatics in the least, but once she set him on down and ran off, he forgave her quickly enough and chased after.  
  
They ran out into the light and caught sight of the black clad cowgirl tying Kirara to her trailer to be unsaddled. "Sango!" Kagome waved and shouted. She turned and smiled and greeted them sweetly, thanking them on the shower of congratulations they shot at her simultaneously. She didn't say it, but she always loved it most when they would come find her after a ride. Kagome and Shippo were always so lively and innocent, Sango loved their genuine eagerness to spend time with her.   
  
They made her remember…  
  
"Hey, Kagome?" Sango said and went to work on Kirara and motioned with her chin. "Who's that new guy with your truck?"  
  
"New guy?" Kagome looked over to their trailer and sure enough, standing with arms crossed and face scowling, was the silver-haired cowboy in a black felt hat. "That's that bull rider who beat Miroku." She said softly.  
  
"Yeah," Sango huffed as she lugged her saddle into storage. "Heard he used to be famous in the event before an injury several years ago. Not bad for his first ride back in the game."  
  
"That was his first ride in years?" Kagome gasped.  
  
"Yep." Sango nodded. "Amazing huh?"  
  
"He's still a jerk…" came a muttered growl at their knees.  
  
Kagome and Sango exchanged amused glances on behalf of the pouting clown child. "Well, jerk or not, I'm going to talk to him." Kagome said with a grin. "Besides, I need to find out why he's lounging around our equipment."  
  
She walked over with a smile and stood close to him, not the least bit unnerved that he didn't look up to acknowledge her presence. Sometimes cowboys just lived in a world of their own and others just weren't allowed to intrude on a whim.  
  
"Hi there." She said cheerily. "Congratulations on your win… That was an amazing ride, but why…"  
  
"Beat it, little girl." He snapped still without looking up. "I'm not signing any autographs."  
  
Kagome's eyes snapped wide and she jammed her hands on her hips. She had yet to meet any one with such nerve to be so openly rude to her! What happened to always saying 'Yes Ma'am' and 'Howdy' and stuff?! "Well aren't you full of yourself?" She huffed.  
  
At her knees, Shippo took a similar stance and looked up at her, whispering, "I told you he was a jerk." But Kagome was far from paying attention to the boy. She was too focused on a pair of arrogant eyes smirking up at her with satisfied superiority and the fury that imagined how beautiful they would be if they were framed with ugly black and blue flesh. He sneered at her and she gritted her teeth, her fist raising to make that fantasy come to life.  
  
"Oh Kagome! There you are." Came a drawling voice from around the trailer and a short, balding, little fat man with a pointed nose came dawdling towards them. "I see you're getting acquainted with our new boy. Good good!"  
  
"New boy?!" Kagome yelled at her employer. How could he possibly take on this jerk? "Mr. Myoga, you can't be serious!"   
  
Mr. F.D. Myoga walked grinning to his newest prodigy and slapped him affectionately on the shoulder. He'd been disappointed enough in his ill-found hopes for a big win from Miroku, but when he'd witnessed that perfect ride, he was still shivering when he considered his possible profits.  
  
"Just imagine it, Kagome!" He said and rung his hands with a silly hungry sort of grin. "With him as a rodeo champion! Think of the business for the ranch! It will be beautiful…" and he wiped a tear away thinking of his glorious future. Kagome remained unimpressed… he had once said the same thing of her brother. How quickly forgotten...   
  
Inuyasha was smirking viscously up at her again as her employer rattled on about what wonderful things he would mean to his ranch. She felt like rubbing his smug little face in the dirt. The message was perfectly clear: He was holding all the cards and she had to go along with it.   
  
Not… a… chance… in… hell.  
  
"So that's all settled." Myoga called her from her thoughts. "I'll finish up around her and you just drive him out home and get him acquainted and settled in!" He clapped her on the shoulder before she could argue and scuttled off towards the main arena, his round little body swaying precariously on his short stubby legs. Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she turned her attention again to her unwanted guest.  
  
"Alright, little girl," Kagome flinched with his condescending jeer. "You heard your boss. Drive me out to this ranch I'm supposed to make famous."  
  
"Why… you…" her lips were pursed in a razor thin line and she clenched her hands in front of her. "That… does…"  
  
"Kagome!" She whipped around in her fury only to find an unconscious brother being dragged with his arm slung around Sango's shoulder. Inuyasha would never know that he was closer to death than he had ever been on any bull. "Does this belong to you?" Sango joked, "I found him harassing the Catalina Cowgirls. I let them teach him the lesson, but you better get him home."  
  
Kagome's whole day just got a little brighter as she turned and smiled a scarily sweet grin to the source of her animosity.   
  
"Sorry." She drawled cutely and watched Sango set Miroku in the truck's passenger seat. "But this taxi just filled up."   
  
She flashed past him and jumped into the cab. It didn't take him a second to figure out what she had planned and Inuyasha started to dart after her. Unfortunately, his foot caught in a hidden loop just beneath the sand and with a startled cry, he found himself eating dirt.   
  
Inuyasha coughed the sand out of his mouth and watched truck and trailer bounce quickly from the arena parking lot. He also saw a little orange poof scurrying away after the other woman… holding the rope he had taken from the brat earlier.   
  
"Get back here you little runt!" he screamed and pushed himself out of the dirt to give chase.   
  
  
  


_ It's the ropes and the reins  
And the joy and the pain  
And the call the thing a rodeo.  
_

  
  
**Next Chapter:** Home on the Range   
So it starts... I'm planning on having some fun with this... so don't take it too seriously. I'm poking a little fun at my Texan-ness ^_~ Ciao! 


	2. Home on the Range

** Author's Notes:** I know it's been a looooooooooong time between updates on this one, and I'm sorry. Please don't have forgotten it yet.   


**The Low Down:** I think the plot's figured out pretty completely, but I haven't mapped out every chapter like I did with Love and Marriage. I thought I'd give this one a little more room to grow.   


** Cheyenne   
**

Chapter 2   


Home on the Range   


***   


_ Previously: Miroku returns to the bull riding circuit only to have victory stolen away by a silver-haired cowboy by the name of Inuyasha Taisho. Kagome also has a run in with the day's winner and they part on unfriendly terms...   
_

Kagome turned sharply to swing her trailer around behind and pulled up the bumpy drive. She bounced in the cab as they pulled to the main barn and Miroku wobbled like a dashboard dog figurine. She pulled to a stop, jerked up the parking break, and slid out the door. She glanced at her still comatose brother and gave a little smirk. What would these men ever do without her? So it hadn't been her life long dream to be a cowboy babysitter, but at least she was good at it. All in all, she could be pretty proud of her accomplishments.   


Every woman should be able to drive a stick, change a flat, get ready in five minutes, and put a man in his place. She was pretty much a master in every field.   


"Hey Kagome!" A familiar friendly voice called from overhead. Hojo's sandy head poked from the second story window where they stored supplies and grinned down at her.   


"Hi Hojo." She said with a smile and looked back in the cab when she heard her brother's garbled murmurs. Miroku grinned in almost childish glee and a little bead of drool rolled from his lips. Kagome wasn't certain… but the muttering's sounded suspiciously like women's names… she didn't want to guess what delusional fantasies were passing through his libido driven mind. She looked back up at Hojo with the pleading eyes. "You think you could help me out?"   


***   


"You could say 'Thank you' you know…" an irritated voice called from the driver's side. Sango matched his expression almost perfectly. She was none the happier with her passenger than he was with his ride, but for his ingratitude, she was about two seconds away from side kicking him straight out of the cab. At this speed, he'd roll at least thirty feet… no. She had to keep the homicidal thoughts out of her head.   


"After all, I could have left you to find your way up ten miles of highway." Sango continued speaking to her unresponsive passenger, with a grin that stayed secret behind her hair. She wasn't planning the kindest ideas for the resentful cowboy who had been left in the dust. Maybe she should really give him a break…but then… that wouldn't be nearly as much fun. "As it is, you'll only have about a mile of woods."   


"If you really want me to be thankful, why not take me all the way." Inuyasha growled without turning from the window.   


"You took what you could get." Sango snapped. "I'm in a slight hurry, and you're definitely not a relief in my day." This guy was getting no mercy, what-so-ever.   


He gave yet another one of those irritating, unthankful, you're-so-damn-annoying-but-I-have-to-put-up-with-you-for-now, kind of grunts that had Sango wanting to kick him through the passenger door once again. Just another mile and he was Kagome's problem again.   


"Ouch!" He yelled as the truck cab suddenly dipped and jumped violently, effectively throwing him against the door frame and bashing his temple against the glass.   


"Sorry…" Sango smiled from the driver's seat, "Country roads… they're full of pot holes."   


***   


"Oomph!" Hojo huffed and dumped Miroku on his bed.   


Kagome walked up behind him and helped situate the sleeping cowboy more comfortably, tugging his boots off and pulling the pillow under his head. She stroked his forehead once affectionately, and a gentle smile spread across her lips when Miroku got that happy boyish grin and slowly blinked open his eyes.   


"Hey…" he muttered sleepily.   


"Hi." She smiled and pushed his messy bangs out of his eyes.   


"I guess I didn't win, did I, Kags?" He said quietly and with a guilty note.   


"No," she murmured. "Not this time, Miroku. But next time you will." He grabbed her hand beside his head quickly and nodded to her.   


"I will, Kagome." He said with a familiar determination. "I promise I will. You won't be stuck here much longer. When I win big, I promise I'll repay you for everything."   


She smiled gently again and pulled her hand from under his, stroking his face once more as he blinked his eyes back to sleep. Big brother's adrenaline rush was wearing off, and that left a man's body in need of sleep. He'd be out until much later that evening when only the call for dinner would call him from his vegetable state.   


"I know you will, Miroku." She said softly. "I know you will."   


She had heard that promise many times already.   


"Bad day, huh?" A quiet voice startled her from the door. She turned quickly to find Hojo still watching over them with that caring and worried expression he so often put on around her. It was just slight of pitying, but Hojo was just to kind about his concern for her that she couldn't be resentful for it. Even when he called her from a semi-private family moment and left her slightly embarrassed from the feeling of being emotionally exposed.   


"You could say that." She mumbled. "We all thought he had it."   


Hojo nodded sympathetically as she stood to leave the room with him. "He must have hit ground pretty bad, to knock him out like that." He said.   


Kagome looked up with a sudden grin and a giggle. "Oh a bull didn't do that." She smiled a little bigger at his confusion. "The bull just winded him. The cowgirls did the real damage."   


Hojo laughed and watched her walk off down the hall with a smile. Such a sweet girl he thought, so kind to everyone on the ranch and so caring for her brother. Every day, he admired her just a little bit more. He glanced in to Miroku one more time, casually wondering why Miroku tended to frown so much more whenever he would see himself and Kagome around. Must just be the stress of trying to take care of her. Hojo had mentioned once that he'd be willing to help.   


Miroku hadn't seemed to like that idea.   


What Hojo didn't see was the dark iris peeking out from under Miroku's lashes and calculating just what he would have to do to keep the young ranch hand away from his sister, as Hojo closed the door and his shape disappeared around the corner. Something about the whole nice guy routine, he just didn't trust. After all, he'd used it too many times himself to keep faith in appearances.   


***   


"How far?!" Inuyasha hollered.   


Sango was un-phased as she leaned against her open door. "The path is just a half mile up the highway. You'll see a dirt road going off to the right and just follow that through some woods. It'll take you to the ranch house."   


"And how long does that go on?" He fumed.   


"Actually… I don't know if anyone's ever measured it." She cocked an eyebrow at him in response to a particular unattractive face she was receiving. "Would you rather I had left you at the arena? I told you I could only take you as far as my place."   


He grumbled loudly as he flung a duffle over his shoulder and started walking off to the highway shoulder. It was early yet, no later than 2:30. If he didn't get turned around in the woods, he could probably make it to the house in time for dinner. Granted, it was about the hottest part of the day and that would linger almost until sunset itself. Also, that path just happened to be as twisting and unmanageable as a dirt road could be. Myoga hadn't even used it in years. And in all likeliness, it was littered with fallen trees and bushes. Oh well, he'd figure that out soon enough.   


She smiled to herself as she jumped back in the cab and drove down the remainder of her drive. Her smile grew a couple sizes as she looked to her front steps to see who was waiting for her. Kagome was going to love this story.   


"Hey!" she called as she hopped from the cab and walked around to the trailer. "When's the last time you looked at the back road?"   


"Not for a few months… it was a mess from the winter storms." Kagome said and went to help. "Why?"   


"Well, your new boy needed a lift since it seemed that his ride was a no show, completely unintentional, I'm sure." She said with a wink. "So I gave him a lift up as far as the drive. He had instructions for the rest of the way."   


A huge grin broke over Kagome's face as Sango led Kirara away.   


"I'll tell you, if I don't go to heaven just for my good deed of putting up with that man this far, there's no justice in the universe." Sango laughed and let Kirara out into a pasture to run and graze.   


Kagome followed the dun horse across the field, her eyes resting on the house in the distance, just across the way of a two acre lot. Home on the range…   


"So he might get home before dark then…" she said with a smile, "If he's lucky."   


***   


The red beams of a dying sun streaked in through window panes across an elaborately decorated table. Kagome watched the clouds drift across the glass in streaks of pinks and violets as the whole world bathed in an almost holy golden light. She turned when she heard the gentle tinking of crystal water glasses to the elderly care taker and smiled. Miss Kaede was a sweet natured widowed woman, always with a wise thought to help Kagome along, and the only other female on this ranch. She was grateful for another person with two X chromosomes to help maintain her sanity. She really doubted it could ever exist otherwise.   


She gave a sigh when the table had been set and Kaede's dinner placed out, and left the dining room to give the call to alarm up a stair well. "Dinner!"   


So much for tranquility.   


A rush of testosterone and animalistic fury rushed down the stairs and past Kagome to the dining room, claiming dominance and pecking order over the meal victoriously… cooked and served my Kaede in the largest stocked kitchen in a thirty mile radius.   


_'Men…'_ Kagome thought with a shake of her head.   


Miroku, Hojo, and Myoga stammered around the table, loading up their plates with meat, potatoes, dinner rolls, and many other items that would have had Adkins enthusiasts recoiling in fear. Kagome just smiled knowingly and politely took her place, taking her share much more quietly and making simple conversation with Kaede or the boys whenever they found time to swallow and allow some breathing time.   


"Oh Kagome!" Myoga drawled out when pausing momentarily to load butter onto his roll. "Why hasn't Inuyasha come down to dinner?"   


Kagome laughed into her water glass quietly and smothered it with the questioning glance the boys shot her. "He… wanted to go and explore the land." She smiled.   


Myoga nodded happily and went back to his food muttering something she thought sounded like "Now that's a cowboy for you…"   


She smothered another laugh into her water glass.   


***   


It was looking to be a beautiful evening: A vast clear sky with a few stars already beginning to emerge and twinkle in the infinite space above, the air clean and fresh and full of the nightly song of crickets and an occasional flash of a firefly, the wooded path basking in a smoky light with the fading rays of sunset.   


The mud caking to the edges of jeans and a muttered cursing sweeping along through brambles and bushes…   


Inuyasha hated it.   


Four and a half hours…   


That god-damned path stopped on itself after fifteen minutes, covered in undergrowth and fallen trees, and disappeared into the trees. But of course, as with most wooded paths, a person doesn't give up hope at first. Oh no…   


He just goes on ahead trying to keep as straight a path as possible and hoping the real track will show up again after a few paces.   


Then of course, he finds what looks like the path restarting again a little to one side, and excitedly goes off towards that, only to have that one end as well after a few minutes and he's right back where he started in terms of being lost, and far from where he started in terms of position.   


He hated trees.   


He hated dirt.   


He god-damned hated bugs.   


He was about a hair's width away from exploding and taking down the entire forest in a fiery ball of his rage! He threw his bag down to the ground and kicked a tree. One stupid woman leaves him sprawled in the dirt at an arena. Another vile female abandons him on the side of the road and sends him on a vain attempt to navigate through the forests of hell! There was no way this could possibly get any worse!   


A soft rustling stirred the bushes to his side, shifting him out of his rage. From that rustling, he heard a soft growling, steadily getting louder and more viscous. Inuyasha looked around cautiously for the source of the sound, slowly picking his pack from the ground, to have something to swing in case he needed to defend himself. It was coming closer.   


In the shadows of the woods, an icy pair of blue eyes peered out at him, and then a snarling set of fangs. He took a step back as the creature approached him threateningly.   


He was standing alone, in the middle of the woods, face to face, with a snarling wolf.   


"Shit."   


***   


"What could be keeping that boy?" Myoga mumbled from a window. Kagome glanced up at him from her place on a large, overstuffed, sofa and hid a grin behind a text book. Periodically, she had felt little twinges of guilt. And now, looking at the chubby, grandfatherly looking man watching out the window like a little boy waiting for his favorite dog to come home, she was almost tempted to give into her conscience.   


But then again maybe not…   


Besides, she had a correspondence exam the next morning for a course in which she was rapidly losing confidence. She put the lost Inuyasha out of her mind to make room for biochemical pathways.   


Pathways…   


That path really was a winding, twisting mess. And that was just the last time she had happened across it. No telling what might happen to a poor guy having never seen it befo… NO!   


Ethanol and Electrons! Not Inuyasha and guilt. Besides, after all the trouble he was already causing and the jerk he had been, she couldn't care less if he happened to be eaten by a bear.   


Kagome's head snapped up, as well as every one else lounging around, with a crashing, cursing, screaming calamity coming from across a field.   


Eaten by a bear… or perhaps not a bear. Maybe eaten by a…   


"Oh no…" Kagome whispered and dropped her book. She jumped to the door and looked over Miroku's shoulder, who gazed dumbfounded out across the field with Myoga, Hojo, and Kaede.   


"Who is that?" He asked amazed.   


"Inuyasha!" Myoga yelled when he saw the silver haired cowboy break from the trees and begin the dash to the ranch house at a furious pace. He then gasped as the dark-furred, snarling beast tore out just behind him, nipping at his heals and dodging the swings of the massive duffle bag.   


"He's being attacked by a blood thirsty wolf!" Myoga blanched. "Someone do something to stop that terrible monster!"   


"It's not a monster!" Kagome cried out fearfully, as she saw Myoga's eyes looking for a shotgun, and she looked to Miroku to help. He looked at her in a stupor. She wanted help to save this beast? The snarling, growling, drooling beast the running cowboy was fighting off? The man would run a few paces, after having knocked the wolf away with the duffle before it would jump at him again. He'd then kick at it or grab it at the neck to fling it away and continue trying to get away. He glanced up to Myoga, now looking at him for an explanation, and to Hojo, who didn't seem to have any better idea than he as to what was going on.   


When in doubt, however, trust Kagome's judgment.   


"Yeah…" he muttered, glaring down at her, simultaneously asking what in the world was going on and demanding she stop all this immediately if she in anyway held that power. "It's just…"   


"KOUGA!" Kagome pushed out through the people standing in the door and interrupted the weak explanation.   


A few things happened almost all at once:   


1) Kouga finally got a good jump at Inuyasha and sent him toppling down, face first, in the grass at full momentum, and sliding a fair distance. Inuyasha turned quickly to grab the wolf at the scruff in his neck to keep him from biting, and keeping the sharp clawed paws from doing too much damage with the other arm.   


2) Kagome's cry out to the wolf was heard, and his attention immediately shifted from his object of prey, snorting once to the man below his paws, and jumping off to head to the woman running down off the porch.   


3) A round of jaws collectively dropped from the observers still waiting in the door frame, watching as the once blood thirsty killer of an animal bounded off the fallen man and rushed to Kagome like a trained pup. She fell down to her knees as the beast skidded to her and buried its head into her arms. Inuyasha even turned over in the dirt to watch in unparalleled confusion. That little woman was coddling the creature that only seconds ago wanted to kill him?!   


Miroku shook his head and stammered. "It's… it's… It's just her pet! Kouga… Yeah."   


Hojo nodded dumbly. "Some pet!" he said under his breath. "She tamed that thing?!"   


"Looks like…" Miroku said.   


Ok… so his sweet baby sister tamed a viscous, blood-thirsty, man eating, wolf. Typical.   


Inuyasha was not as accepting of the situation as was Miroku, however. He watched in a daze on the ground as the wolf that had chased him through the woods for longer than he knew fawned at the woman who had abandoned him earlier. Weren't kanines supposed to be a good judge of character? Why would it choose so evil a girl to cuddle up to? Unless, evil things just naturally associate towards evil things. That had to be the case. Damn woman and her damn murderous wolf!   


"What the hell is wrong with you, girl?!" he screamed, pulling himself back up to his feet and stomping over to Kagome. "It's not enough you drop my ass and leave me in the dirt, but you try to kill me too?!"   


A very threatening growl and a very cold stare was his response. Kagome took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes, mentally preparing every insult and derogatory name in her vocabulary to use all at once in a verbal explosion at him, but her diatribe was put on hold as Myoga tottered up as fast as hit fat little body could carry him, past her and clapped Inuyasha on the shoulder.   


"Well! That was a bit of an adventure." He said with a smile. "I guess you got as good a lay of the land as anyone would ever get. Now that's a cowboy for you! And no harm done with Kagome's little pet. First I found out about it, but come to think, I can't think of any better protection our little home could hope for. And if Kagome's it's girl, that old wolf no doubt will be about as tame as a kitten." He turned to her, losing a little of that happy smile.   


"How did you find that animal anyway?" His voice was cheerful, yet his eyes held just a little fear. The last thing Myoga wanted was his new star getting too upset and leaving because of a pretty nasty run down of an animal. His little mind was scurrying for the best possible way out of this and almost begging Kagome to have the way to do it.   


"I found him in the forest a while ago." She said gently, petting his head. "His pack had all been killed and he was injured. I didn't want to just let him die, so I took care of him. He's just been hanging around since then. He's not exactly tame, but I think he sees this as his territory."   


"See now!" Myoga turned back to Inuyasha, dusting himself off, with a happy smile. "All settled and taken care of. Now boy, you must be starved. Come inside, we'll get you set up."   


He looked like he wanted to say more, yell more, tell Kagome she was the single most vile creature he had yet had the misfortune to come across, but as Myoga insistently pulled him along towards the house, Inuyasha felt the energy drain from his body from the sheer lunacy of the day and he couldn't get up the strength. He walked into the warmth of the house and could have fallen to the floor and slept for fifty years if he had the chance.   


"I want to sleep." He informed Myoga demandingly, who seemed not to notice the rudeness of the tone, but merely nodded sympathetically.   


"Of course, you're tired, my boy." He said. "I'll show you to your room and have Kaede send you up a bite to eat."   


Inuyasha grunted affirmatively and let Myoga lead him up the stairs, to an opened hallway over looking the living and dining rooms. Bedrooms were situated on one side of the hall, and a second set of rooms ran parallel on the other side of the house. Myoga, Miroku, and Hojo each had separate quarters on one side of the house. Kagome and Kaede had lived peacefully in feminine splendor along the other hall, and the two joined together in an upstairs lounge over the kitchen. There had always been one room open for guests or possible new recruits on the women's hall.   


Kagome walked up the stairs with her text book in hand, very sleepy and stressed, and noticed Myoga showing Inuyasha into the open room. She blanched.   


_'Oh no… please tell me...' _she thought desperately as Inuyasha flung his duffle back into the room and stepped out in the hall, noticing her and frowning violently.   


"Just remember, if you need anything, you'll have Kagome right through the wall." Myoga was still talking as he came into the hall and regarded her affectionately. "Ever since she came down here, things have been running smoother than they've ever been. She's the best person you'd want to have as your neighbor."   


Know that feeling, when everything is coming down on your head at once? And you're so frustrated because anything you try to do to make the problems seem not so bad, just somehow makes them seem that much worse? And finally you face the fact that there's nothing you can do to take the control back in your life and the realization is so depressing and all consuming that you actually feel the bile rushing up in your throat and threatening to make you vomit?   


Kagome did.   


'Sure... I'm the person to go to if he needs anything... like arsenic!' she thought.   


Miroku and Hojo watched the exchange from the hall across the way. Kagome was ready to kill, an expression he only experienced every once and a while during his required amounts of brotherly torture. Inuyasha didn't seem any friendlier. As they looked upon each other, every muscle fiber in each body was taunt and ready to snap. He couldn't help admitting, he wasn't overly thrilled of the strange man sharing the room directly next to his sister. But with such maliciousness radiating towards each other, it had to be completely harmless.   


The way she looked at him: eyebrows drawn down together, jaw snapped tight, shallow breathing and lips pressed thin in a frown. Everything screamed disgust!   


Inuyasha glared down at her. "Whatever!" he snapped and walked into his room and let the door slam punctuate his departure.   


"Oooooooo!" Kagome fumed, "I've had enough of this!" She absently rubbed at her aching temple and tried to calm herself by taking long, controlled breaths.   


"Want me to beat him up?" a familiar call grabbed her from her mounting headache. She whipped her head around to find Miroku and Hojo leaning on the banister and smiling at her. She blushed at the discovery that she had been the night's entertainment.   


"No, no… I'm good. I'll deal with it on my own, thanks." She grinned placatingly to big bro and sighed. "I'll just study up here until bed. Maybe I can actually get something done without distraction." She muttered out tiredly.   


"Night!" Miroku called out with a wink, "Have fun with that."   


"Sweet dreams, Kagome." Hojo wished her from across the open room, rewarded by a smile from Kagome and an unnoticed sideways glare from Miroku.   


"Shut up, idiots!" Inuyasha called from inside his room.   


Miroku came to his decision as both Kagome's door slammed shut   


He may have decided Inuyasha was in no way anything to worry about, but he had to remain determined to keeping Hojo away.   


***   


"I think the jerk actually tried to bang his head against the wall!" Kagome grumbled while Sango saddled Kirara. "All night. Thump-thump-thump right behind my head!"   


"You could always just move your furniture around." Sango offered and mounted.   


"And give him the satisfaction of my moving my life all around some more just because of him?!" She cried.   


"It was only a suggestion." Sango smiled and turned Kirara to begin her practice run.   


Kagome sighed and rested her arms and head on the arena railings. She loved watching Sango practice. One reason, she could rant to an ever sympathetic ear to relieve her own frustrations with the world, and a second, nothing can make you forget the world better than watching the fluid motion of woman and horse in a fast and graceful, turf flying race. Everything just stops for a moment.   


"What do you think I should do, Shippo." She looked down to the little boy playing with grasshoppers at her feet. The little boy was still dressed in his clown pants, but Kagome congratulated herself on getting him to take off the shirt and makeup.   


"I don't know about at your home, but I'll protect you here!" Shippo piped up enthusiastically. He went into a very lively account on how they could catch him in a rope trick and leave him tied in a tack room just long enough for him to miss his ride. Then Miroku would definitely have the best shot of winning and Myoga could forget about his new golden-boy who failed to show up to events.   


Kagome listened with as smile. "I don't think so Shippo." She said half-heartedly. "I don't think I could bring myself to sabotage, so let's just hope he blows it on his own."   


Still, she couldn't deny that it was a tempting offer.   


A startled scream jerked their attention back to the arena. Kagome looked out to see Sango in the dirt, next to the barrel, and cradling her wrist while Kirara thrashed on her side trying to pull herself back to her feet.   


"Oh no!" Kagome breathed and jumped the railings in a flash, running through the slinking sand towards Sango as fast as she could. "What happened?! Are you alright?"   


"No…" Sango grunted and gripped her wrist tightly. "I… I hit a loose spot in the sand. Hit the barrel on the way down. I think it's broken."   


"Oh no… Sango…" Kagome looked around frantically. Kirara was back on her feet, saddle slightly askew from the impact with the ground, and nosing down at them, trying to urge her master back up. Shippo was scurrying towards them as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Shippo!" Kagome called out and stopped him in his tracks. "Call a medic, quickly!"   


"Right." Shippo nodded and scurried off just the way he came. His little orange poof bobbed up and down as his little legs got caught in the sand piles.   


"It'll be alright, Sango." Kagome whispered and helped her to stand. Sango nodded deftly, trying to believe what Kagome said, but able to grant herself that optimism. She'd lose her standing if she didn't ride, and she couldn't ride with a broken wrist.   


Sango was out of competition.   


**Next Chapter:** What the Cowgirls Do   



	3. What the Cowgirls Do

**Author's Notes:** Ok, so I'm writing on a time limit? Well, it's self inflicted. Even I decide that occasionally I need a break from ensuing drama of freshman girls back stabbing each other trying to go out with upperclassmen and going in search of inebriation. Besides, every one else is going home for the weekend. But that means I'm writing without the aid of my "plan" in the next window.   


**The Low Down:** This is being written in leu of writing my genetics lab report. So if I use the terms Epistasis, phenotypic, or drosophila, please forgive me. I may either be enjoying some sick and twisted personal joke, or just getting my left and right brain mixed up again. Such is the life of a science major.  


Oh... if you don't know this song.... SHAME! I decided to keep the Garth Brooks motif for a while longer. There are lots of song lyrics that are going to be floating around.  
^_^  


** Cheyenne  
**

Chapter 3  


What the Cowgirls Do  


***  


_Previously: Inuyasha discovers the innate sadism bequeathed to all women. Sango injures herself in practice and is no longer fit to compete.  
_

We call them cool   
Those hearts that have no scars to show   
The ones that never do let go   
And risk the tables being turned   


"I can't believe I'm doing this." Came a muffled mumble that Sango barely caught. She looked up the black leg by her ear and caught the fearful expression her friend carried. Kagome looked like she was about to throw up, and considering where she was standing, Sango really didn't like that prospect. But for what the other woman was doing for her, she just might take a little vomit to the head.   


In the world of rodeo, he that does not compete, likewise does not eat. A true competitor can sometimes sell off every thing they own just to pay entry fees, and when they don't win... Sango shook her head to dismiss the thought. Entry fees are high, especially for the higher levels of competition, but then the payoffs were more to compensate.  


But with a broken wrist from practice, Sango could not participate. For a few horrendous hours, she had speculated all the possible outcomes for her home and life. By the time she healed properly, she'd have already lost everything. Just thinking it had been enough to bring tears to her eyes, until she caught sight of her friend coming out of her bathroom, wearing a pair of black jeans, her black and pink snapped button shirt, and her black felt hat, with her hair pulled back in a pony tail.  


The effect was striking.  


"You're sure you want to go through with this? We can still call it off." Sango whispered and finished synching the saddle girth. Kagome glared down at her. How many times had she asked that same question this morning alone. Twenty? Like she wasn't having a hard enough time convincing herself just to stay in this saddle without Sango giving her a million opportunities to back out.  


"I told you, Sango, I'm sure!" Kagome growled. "Just because I can't believe I'm doing it, and seriously questioning my sanity for doing it, and scared blind at just the thought of doing it, doesn't mean I'm not sure that I'm going to!"  


Sango sighed and placed her hand over her friend's on the saddle horn. It was amazing, when she thought how similar the two seemed. Granted Kagome was slightly shorter, but the length of the jeans and the lose shoulders in the shirt would hardly be noticeable from atop Kirara. With the black hat shadowing her eyes, no one would notice the difference in color either, and they wouldn't stay long enough for Kagome to be questioned after the ride.  


Sango smiled gratefully to her friend, who returned with a rather shaky one. She couldn't express the depth of emotion that filled her when Kagome boldly announced that everything would be fine while wearing her competition clothes. It took all of two seconds to realize what she intended and Sango had immediately tried to dissuade her. _'Kagome, there is no way I can ask you to do something like this.'_ She had said with desperation. Kagome had given her that simple, almost childish smile, and grasped her hands. _'I know.'_ she had said, _'But you're not asking me anything.'_  


"Thank you... Kagome... really... I" Sango mumbled looking into her friend's eyes.  


"Hey," Kagome smiled. "I told you not to worry. It'll be fine, I promise." She then burst into a cute grin. "And better start calling me, 'Sango' now."  


"Alright, Sango," she smiled back up at her double. "But you'd better sit a little higher in the saddle, or else people will start wondering when you became such a little shrimp."  


Kagome faked an indignant huff and swatted the other woman's hands away. She grinned over her shoulder as she turned Kirara and headed into the arena to wait her turn.  


"Good luck..." Sango whispered and watched her go.  


_ We call them fools   
Who have to dance within the flame   
Who chance the sorrow and the shame   
That always comes with getting burned   
_

"Ok...." Kagome whispered to herself. "I can do this... no problem... I can do this." She tried to sit as straight as possible and kept her head tilted down, catching the looks of the other women waiting to compete. They were all whispering and casting her quick glances. She felt that familiar tightness in the throat and tried to swallow it down and ease that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach at the same time. _'Oh please let them just be talking about Sango...'_ she thought desperately. It was reasonable after all. Sango was the defending winner in this event. They in all likeliness could simply be pointing out the girl to beat and not wondering if there was some impostor riding around in Sango's clothes and on Sango's horse. It was reasonable!  


"Oh boy..." Kagome muttered. "I'm doomed."  


She absently stroked Kirara's neck below her and the horse, feeling her nervousness reached back and nuzzled her leg with her muzzle. Kagome smiled, imagining this was the mare's way of saying _'Don't worry. I'll do my job. You just hold on.'_  


She sighed and tried to loosen some of her tension. Perhaps the situation wasn't nearly as dire as her heart would make it out. If she could just place around second or third, she could win enough to lighten some of the blow for Sango financially. She wasn't sure what would happen after that, but she'd find some way to help. She just needed to go through this, and she knew she was a good enough rider and Kirara was a good enough horse to do it.  


Ever notice how practicality never helps a fear-induced nausea?  


She sat patting Kirara's neck, watching the other cowgirls ride to the gates, always casting a shy glance to her before they shot out into the arena to do their run, and came back looking at her again, but much more smug. It was getting old really fast and Kagome wondered why Sango always ended up riding last.   


Damn dramatic tension...  


The last smug cowgirl rode back in through the gates, grinning at her. This one had beaten the previous time by a two-tenths of a second. She was insanely proud of herself. Kagome smiled grimly. She was tired of self involved cowgirls. She gave Kirara a tap to the sides and rode to the starting gates.  


"Ok...." She breathed. "Here we go."  


Kirara snorted and pawed the ground.  


_ But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire   
'Cause it's not enough just to stand outside the fire   
_

Kagome glanced down, making sure her feet were firmly planted in the stirrups and she had a good grip on the reigns. She was regarding herself in a detached sort of way, noting unemotionally that her hands were trembling against the saddle horn. She shook her head slightly and fought to get herself under control. She steeled herself just as the shot went off and Kirara furiously burst into the sand.  


Everything shut off.  


It was eerily quiet as Kagome took the first barrel, barely noticing she had arrived there. She threw her weight into the turn, only the sound of her own heart beat pounding in her ears. They were at the second barrel before she even really registered that she had completed the turn. The vague shadow of people jumping up and down invaded her peripheral vision, but she didn't consciously notice anything as the dirt flew around her body from Kirara's fierce turn.   


When had she gotten to the last barrel? She threw her weight into the turn again, and leaned completely forward over Kirara's neck as they came out of it and thundered down the straight-a-way. She sat up straight as Kirara dug her front hooves into the sand, stopping sharp after the mark and stepping out of the momentum.   


The sound came back like someone turning a televison off of mute.  


The arena was pulsing with screams. She could hear a pounding above her head from people jumping up and down, calling out "Sango! Sango!" in time with their brutal rhythm. The announcer was hysterically screaming out that it was 'Sango's' best ride to date. She looked around to the once smug little cowgirls, un-tacking their horses, now regarding her with awed, and resentful appreciation.  


It took a moment to all register: Kagome had not only won.  


She had slaughtered the competition.  


***  


_ We call them strong   
Those who can face this world alone  
Who seem to get by on their own   
Those who will never take the fall   
_

"Holy shit!" Miroku muttered from the stands. He gripped the rail in front of him and stared blankly at the empty arena. Hojo sat obliviously watching a dancing Shippo bounce around and join in the 'Sango' chant that had become suddenly very popular. Myoga was muttering under his breath, wondering what he might have to offer Sango to get her to represent his ranch. He glanced to the man at his right and saw Inuyasha also looking down into the arena. "Did you see that?!" Miroku decided Inuyasha would be the best person with whom to begin the post-amazing-thing banter.  


"No..." Inuyasha frowned at him. "I went into a coma standing here."  


Ok... so maybe not.  


"Well... you missed out then." Miroku turned his attention back to the arena, as if suddenly the whole event would recreate itself. "Because that was amazing."   


Inuyasha gave a non-committal snort . He could not argue that statement in the least, but there was something puzzling. Something in the way Sango had held herself that had him confused. But he dismissed it for now. He hadn't seen her ride often enough to know for sure.  


Inuyasha looked up to ask Miroku if he had noticed anything, but found he was gone from his side. He turned, catching a glimpse of his dark hair disappearing below the stands. No doubt, Miroku was heading off to 'congratulate' Sango in his own unique way. Inuyasha secretly hoped she slapped his head backwards. It would be hilarious at dinner.  


***  


"Holy shit..." Kagome muttered, still on top of Kirara and looking dumbly into space. Did she actually just do that? Did she really ride and, not only just win, but decimate every other competitor before her? With that time, Sango would easily enter the finals as the favorite to win. "Holy shit..." she muttered again. She was only supposed to get through this ride. She never even thought of possibly having to do it again!  


Now that she was thinking about Sango, she happened to look down to find the source of an annoying pinching at her leg and a pair of laughing maroon eyes sparking up at her. She was laughing and practically pulled Kagome down from the saddle, catching her from her rather graceless dismount and hugging her close. She babbled some incoherent nonsense like "That was amazing!" and "Kagome, you were wonderful."   


"Holy shit." was all Kagome was capable of producing right now, so she relied on that simple two word expression of her emotions.  


Sango grinned at her as she pulled out of the hug, making sure Kagome was able to stand upright on her own two feet. She still wasn't looking at anything in particular and her eyes were glazed in a dumbfounded stupor. "Just wait a minute." Sango smiled at her. "I'll put Kirara up, and we'll get out of here. I'll only be a minute." She didn't want to leave Kagome standing there alone to be discovered, but her friend didn't seem to have the frame of mind to walk on her own, and she doubted she could lead both horse and rider at once. She looked over her shoulder at the girl, doing exactly what she was told and not moving from the spot, nor even changing her expression. She wondered absently if she had been as affected on her first win.  


Miroku dropped down out of the stands and looked around. Cowgirls were dejectedly packed up their tack and brushed down their horses, which was to be expected after being severely humbled by their superior. He smirked in a basking kind of arrogance, thinking that he was the one who was close to the great cowgirl, forgetting momentarily that he got slapped every time he got close. But speaking of...  


He caught sight of her, standing in the middle of the area and staring off into space. He smiled at her obviously dazed form, chuckling slightly at the thought that she had even impressed herself. Such was Sango. A vision of strength and modesty all rolled into one very nicely in a pair of jeans.  


Since her back was turned to him, it was far too tempting not to take advantage of this unique opportunity and he took a step towards her and reached out his hand.  


A chill ran down his spine.  


He stopped in confusion. Where had this horrible, foreboding sense come from? It sent a shudder through his body from head to toe. Could he perhaps be developing a conscience from his occasional less than gentlemanly touch to a woman? It had never been a problem before, so why should he suddenly feel such a sickeningly disturbing pull at his heart as he reached out to her?   


Kagome turned around with the odd feeling that she was being watched and found herself looking into her brother's confused eyes with his hand outstretched. She saw his pupils contract in what could only be horror and the blood rush out of his face as he looked at her. Her eyes traveled away from his paled expression, down his arm to his hand... and she realized just what it's position was in the air, and where it would have grabbed.  


Both Miroku and Kagome gave a gagged yell of disgust and jumped back a clean six feet.  


***  


"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" the belligerent scream broke the still of the night all around the ranch home.  


Miroku was livid. Angry at Kagome for sneaking into competition where she very clearly didn't belong. Angry at Sango for giving her the opportunity for getting involved. Kagome for being foolish enough to do that kind of ride without the experience. Sango for letting her, after she herself had gotten hurt despite all her years of experience. And angry at the whole world for the lingering embarrassment an disgust he had put on himself only earlier that afternoon.   


This had been going on for hours.   


Kagome sat bored in a chair, propping her head on her hands as Miroku huffed and fumed. Sango regarded him with guarded cynicism, fighting the urge to point out just how Kagome felt every time he climbed on a bull and that not only had his little sister proven herself to be a great talent, but also saved_ her_ financially of her own free will.   


Myoga was the happiest of the group, delighted that he would not have to make any astronomical offers to lure Sango onto his pay roll, given that the amazing display had come from someone he already employed with a very 'fair' salary. Miroku decided to turn his rants to their boss once he expressed these thoughts.  


Across the table, Hojo looked at Kagome sympathetically and gave her a reassuring smile. "I thought you preformed amazingly." he whispered to her. He then found himself on the receiving end of Miroku's displeasure, for encouraging his sister in pursuing something in which she had no place.  


"Look, I don't want to be unreasonable about this," he said, "But there are some things I just can't risk and I won't allow her to get hurt. I'm sorry, but there is just no way this is going to happen again. She should focus on school, like she's been working on for so long and leave the stupid, dangerous, life shortening games to people stupid enough to risk it."   


"Like you?" Sango added with a nod.  


Miroku stopped quickly realizing his own hypocrisy with shame. It dawned on him that just about every thing in that little self glorified speech of his were the words of a hypocrite and yet had still spewed from his mouth like crap. Sango shook her head at him once he seemed to realize his mistake.  


"Did you even notice, the girl who's life you're deciding isn't even here?" she said.  


He whipped around and found, sure enough, the empty chair where Kagome had been sitting and regarding him with boredom. "Where did she go?" He Hojo and Myoga heatedly. They glanced each other quickly before giving him twin looks and shrugged. He looked to Sango again, but she just crossed her arms and looked away from him.  


***  


_ We call them weak   
Who are unable to resist  
The slightest chance love might exist  
And for that forsake it all   
_

Inuyasha shook his head at Miroku losing his sister. He sat alone on the porch, looking out at the moon over a line of trees in the distance and followed the argument without interest. It was amusing to listen to a usually calm and composed Miroku lose his sense of control where his precious little angel of a sibling was concerned. Moments after he heard the disconcerted man ask where she had gone, Inuyasha noticed a shadowy figure stalking quietly away from the house. She actually walked straight in front of him without noticing his presence.   


He looked after her curiously before getting up and silently following after her; For curiosity's sake alone, of course. She walked quickly to the truck sitting in the front drive and opened the driver's door as quietly as she could manage. He smirked. He just couldn't resist.  


"Trying to escape, little girl?" He said, not keeping the whisper her stalking mood demanded.  


This wasn't the nicest thing for him to do while she stood on the running board of a high truck. Kagome jumped at the sound of his voice and whipped around to the source, effectively throwing herself off balance and landing straight on her butt in the dirt.  


"Trying to give me a heart attack, jerk?" she snarled and rubbed her sore backside.   


"Wouldn't be much to attack." He shrugged.   


Kagome looked at him with renewed fire as she pushed herself back onto her feet. The fact that he hadn't in the least way offered to assist her irritated her. Not that she would have accepted any form of help from him in the first place, but all things considered, he was the cause of her fall so the very least he should do would be to offer to help her stand. That way she could turn him down.  


To make her point, she took extra care of dusting herself off. "What do you want, anyway?"  


"Nothing." he shrugged again. "Just a little curious about what you were planning, but now I get it. You're pissed that precious big brother isn't letting you have your way, so you're running away until he's all good and worried. Then he'll let you have whatever you want."   


That stung.... a lot.  


"Or am I wrong?" he smiled. "Maybe you're just giving up because he doesn't like it and you don't want him to think you're not the perfect little girl that every one thinks you are."  


Kagome stood before him silently. When she didn't speak at all, a little corner of his mind began to feel a twinge of guilt. She was supposed to just yell at him and tell him to leave her alone. She was tough enough, or at least she had taken his barbs easily enough in the past. As annoying as that was, he didn't think that would really get to her that much.   


Precious little girl? That did hurt. She tried hard to just dismiss his words. He didn't understand of course, and she couldn't really blame him. After all, it's not like she had made an effort to let him know her that well. But still... it hurt.  


"I'm not giving up..." she said so quietly she could hardly even hear it.  


"What was that?" he asked, the mocking jeer of his voice gone, if only for the moment.  


_ They're so hell-bent on giving ,walking a wire   
Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire   
_

"I'm not going to give up." She said confidently. "Sango needs this too much."  


He looked at her strangely, many of the emotions she was able to place: disbelief, surprise, uncertainty, but something she wasn't sure of, respect? No... never respect. Not from him. She shook her head and turned her back to him, going back to the truck who's door was still open.  


"Just for Sango, huh?" she heard him say and looked to see him flaring an eyebrow at her. Yep... mocking tone came back with avengeance, but somehow it didn't seem all that bad. After all, there are worse things than a surly cowboy living next to you and annoying you every opportunity he gets.  


Right?  


"I guess for me to." she smiled down at him, and noticed him jump slightly. She closed herself into the cab and started the engine, leaving him standing in the drive as she bounced down to the main road. He watched her tail lights turn away from the property and disappear and shrugged. What did he care what that silly girl did?  


"Stupid girl." he muttered and turned to walk back to the house.   


Answering this insulting comment, came an ominous growling from behind in the dark.  


_'Beautiful...'_ he thought bitterly as he found himself looking into the icy eyes of that same damn wolf. The girl had been the only thing keeping it away. He kicked it as it lunged at him, and rushed back to the house.   


Another pair of jeans were ruined.  


_ Standing outside the fire   
Standing outside the fire   
Life is not tried, it is merely survived  
If you're standing outside the fire   
_

**Next Chapter: **Tough Little Boys  
^_^   



	4. Tough Little Boys

**Author's Note:**Shorter Chapter, but working through a bit of a slum. Just wondering how I'm tackling the Inu/Kag dynamic in this story. S'ahrite now.   


**The Low Down:** When I said I was doing a Garth motif in the last chapter... I didn't mean forever. I got lots of questions like 'what's the next garth song?' and I was like... whoa.... too much structure for me! Reba takes over this chapter...   


For a Stormy, non-country recomendation: Counting Crows - Basically Anything... but Anna Begins is a necessary for anyone's life, Cowboy Mouth (not country... trust me) - How do You Tell Someone or Jennie Says, Stroke 9 - Don't Worry (freaking awesome!), Eve 6 - Promise. You can't die happily without hearing this song.   


Alright end that right now or I'll go on forever. Music is to big a passion.   


** Cheyenne   
**

Chapter 4   


Tough Little Boys   


_ Previously: Kagome rides in place of Sango and discovers her talent for an event no one ever wants to participate in again. Kagome sneaks into the local arena late at night to clear her mind. _   


The old pick up bumped to a stop outside the abandoned arena. Only hours before, the place had been loud and alive with the crowds. Now everything was still, and not a little bit messy with abandoned soft drink cups and paper food dishes.   


The stars were out above the stands, shining down on her as she stepped into the loose sand. It glowed a pale blue in the moonlight and Kagome smiled with private humor.   


She gave a quick glance around, just making sure there was absolutely no one around...   


_She's always lived for tomorrow  
She's never learned how to live for today._

  


And took off running into the sand.   


"Kagome Higurashi thunders into the arena!" She called out to the empty stands. She threw herself to the side and spun in a tight circle. "She takes the first barrel without fear!"   


She ran across the sand towards her second imaginary barrel. "The girl's on fire! She's around the second!" she called out and spun in another circle.   


She ran a few more paces to the last leaf of the clover. "And now here she comes! This just might be a new record folks!" she yelled and ran back down between her pattern to the entrance.   


With a grin, she dropped into a slide the last foot and held her hands over her head. "Kagome Higurashi has done it! This girl's a champion! Her brother jumps up and down in pride as she waves to the stands. Guess it runs in the family..." she ended her announcing with a sadder note to her voice.   


She sighed and looked down at herself, sitting in the sand and making imaginary announcements. She'd thought she'd grown up somewhere along the line. After all, she'd killed herself over so many text books to get into medical school, not run around in the dirt at night. _'Oh well... back to maturity.'_ She thought and hefted herself to her feet.   


She caught a flash of orange from the corner of her eye and turned to see a familiar poof under the stands, and a pair of big green eyes peeking out at her. She blushed hotly at being caught and Shippo quickly tried to hide, seeing she'd noticed him.   


"Shippo?" She ran to the stands to find her friend. "Shippo where are you? What are you doing here?" She peeked under the benches until she found him curled up trying to hide from her.   


Shippo looked up at her with tears in his eyes and fear that made her want to cuddle him and protect him from everything in the world. Why in the world would he be afraid of her? Then she looked around the child, seeing a blanket haphazardly crumpled in the corner in the shape of a little bed.   


"Shippo..." she said quietly. "Why are you here? Where is your family?"   


The child gave her a heartbreaking look and a cry broke from his little chest. Before Kagome knew what was happening, the child launched himself into her arms and clung to her shirt. She hugged him back gently, not needing any further answer.   


Shippo was alone, living in the arena, and by the looks of it had been for a while. How had no one noticed? Why had no one asked?   


But then again, why hadn't she before now?   


She sat stroking his hair while he cried, murmuring soothing words into his ear. When his crying slowed to an occasional sniffle and hiccup, she pulled him away enough to look into his face.   


"Want me to tell you something?" She asked gently, and Shippo gave her a feeble nod.   


"I was sick." Kagome said quietly. "It was raining, and Momma and Grandpa had to pick up my little brother from his soccer game. Miroku stayed home to take care of me." She unconsciously hugged Shippo tighter.   


"He's been taking care of me since." She said gently.   


"I thought you were the one who took care of him." Shippo sniffled.   


"Only lately." Kagome smiled down at him. "It as really hard, for both, but we knew we needed to help each other. We knew we weren't alone. You don't have to be either."   


She saw the tears creep back into Shippo's eyes and he latched himself to her shirt once again. "You'll let me come home with you?" his words were hard to understand with his face buried against her shoulder. "You'll still be my friend? Even though... no one else wanted me?"   


"There's no way I would leave here without you." She said firmly and petted his unruly red hair.   


They sat in peace for a long while, with Kagome looking up at the stars and the moon over the stands thinking over her life, and little Shippo snuggling into her shoulder until she thought he had fallen asleep.   


_Oh she's dying to try something foolish,  
Do something crazy, or just get away._

  


"Kagome?" he whispered, putting and end to that theory.   


"Yes, Shippo?" she said gently.   


"You should compete..." he said sleepily. "You're better than any one I've seen. But, you know, only with a horse."   


Kagome laughed quietly and blushed at the embarrassing memory. She'd have to bribe him something fierce to keep him quiet about that.   


"I don't know Shippo." she whispered. "I've worked so hard for so long. I can't just throw that away. I'm not even sure I really want to do this. I've only won once, it might be a fluke."   


"That wasn't a fluke, Kagome." Shippo whispered. "And it made you happy, right? Competing? Why else were you playing in the sand just now, pretending?"   


"I don't know..." she sighed. "Momentary lapse in concentration, maybe?"   


"You looked like you were having fun." Shippo yawned and in a few seconds, drifted off to sleep.   


"Yeah..." She whispered and picked him up. "I was." She carried him back to her truck to take him home.   


_Oh something for herself for a change._

  


***   


Stars were amazing things. So far away, but right in front of your face if you stared at them long enough. They seemed to drown out all the noise of the world, and Inuyasha was perfectly fine with that.   


He'd pretty much adopted his place on the front porch. A place out of the house, away from the crazy people he'd become a part of, no matter how reluctantly, and away from all their issues that he didn't need to bother about.   


And now, it was a place to come when he couldn't sleep, which was becoming far too frequent. It had been so long... he thought he'd start getting over it.   


_'Five years...'_ he sighed and looked out at the stars again. What did he need sleep for anyway? He was doing just fine without it. _'I was asleep for five years...'_   


He jumped slightly when the door creaked open behind him, but as he turned, he saw only the old maid, Kaede, coming towards him stirring a hot cup of tea. He gave a quick huff and looked pointedly out into the night to show just how much he was ignoring her.   


"Good evening, Inuyasha." she said calmly, not noticing or not caring about his efforts to remain aloof. "What keeps you up so late at night. Not still brooding over the argument tonight?"   


Inuyasha flinched visibly at the reminder. He'd no sooner come through the door, fighting off that blood-thirsty beast _again_, when every occupant of the house had found it fitting to attack him with questions about Kagome. Had he seen her? Where had she gone? Did he upset her at all and if so how did he prefer to die?   


When they found out he'd willing let her drive off into the night to god-knows-where, they had really exploded. Miroku yelling at Myoga for wanting to put Kagome in harms way for a profit, Myoga yelling at him that if he let anything happen to her, champion or not, he was out on his own, and Sango yelling at them all for being over-bearing idiots and frightening her away.   


It had all been complete insanity until the old woman came in and in her own quiet, completely terrifying way, shut them all up.   


He would never say it, but she was the only one he thought was sane around this place.   


"I won't be held responsible for some hyper-emotional, spoiled girl, running off in the middle of the night. I don't care who she's snowballed." He muttered with a slight pout.   


Kaede chuckled, which surprised him and made he stare at her. She shook her head at him with a smile, looking down into her tea as she stirred. "You should not be so quick to judge, Inuyasha." she said with a little mirth.   


He huffed and looked away. He took it all back. She was as crazy as the rest of them.   


Her voice sobered greatly. "You do not sleep at night, do you? I have seen you pacing the house at all hours of the night. And Kagome says she hears you through the wall. She assumed you did it to annoy her."   


"Annoying, self-centered, spoiled, little..." he muttered under his breath.   


"I think it may be for some other reason, am I right?" she interrupted his rant.   


"What would you know about it?" he sighed.   


She waited for his pouting to lessen slightly. It truly was amazing how a grown man could still be so childish, but perhaps that in itself was an oxymoron.   


"There is much you don't understand about the girl." she said quietly and sipped her tea.   


"Yeah?" he said with sarcasm. "Like what, old maid?"   


"Perhaps that is something you had best ask Kagome herself." she said, without response to the insult.   


He just grunted apathetically and muttered, "Not like I care either way."   


The old woman smiled at him in the dark. "It would seem that Kagome also should not be so quick to make judgements about you either. It seems there is much she does not understand as well."   


"What are you talking about, granny." He huffed and spun to her with surprise.   


"An old woman sees these things, Inuyasha." Kaede smiled wisely. "I can see, very clearly, a young man trying to hide from his past."   


"Maybe you're just losing your sight in your old age." he muttered.   


"The funny thing about running from a past," she continued, "It always seems to have a way of catching up with you." She watched him shift uneasily in the dark. "But you should not be so hard on Kagome for what she does not know, Inuyasha."   


"If she didn't have any interest in finding out," he said quietly, "It's not my problem."   


"Maybe you haven't given her much of a chance." Kaede said. "Tell me, if she had asked, was there anything she could have said that would have made you tell her?"   


He didn't answer her.   


"I'll take that as a_ no._" she said with a sigh and stood up once more. "If you ever do wish to discuss what is on your mind, Inuyasha, I seldom sleep in the nights as well." And with that she returned to the warmth of the house.   


He didn't look at her as she left, but kept his eyes fixed out to the main road. He didn't need to talk to the old woman about anything, and was offended she had pried into his life this much. He didn't need to talk to anyone about what happened back then. It had been years ago. He was past it.   


She didn't need to know about Cheyenne.   


And he surly didn't need to talk to her about the girl. It's not like she was anything of importance to him, other than a general pain in his side, but definitely nothing worthy of discussion. So what if he didn't know everything there was to know about the girl? He didn't want to! He didn't want to know why she felt compelled to just drive away in the middle of the night.   


And above all he didn't want to know what was taking her so long to come back.   


Headlights coming up the drive caught his attention and he heard the soft rumbling of the pick-ups engine. He jumped up and walked down the steps, until he started to feel like a dog running to meet a vehicle at a gate.   


Welcome back scowl...   


The truck pulled to a stop and Kagome stepped down from the cab. But something was strange; she looked like she was holding something.   


He stepped inside, hiding in the shadows, and watched her enter. She didn't go upstairs, as he first expected, but stopped in the living room, laying her bundle on the couch pillows and wrapping it in a blanket. He couldn't stop the curiosity and came closer.   


Then he saw. She had brought back the kid from the rodeo, and was watching him with tender affection. She brushed the hair away from the kid's eyes, smiling gently. It was all so peaceful.   


"So you finally came back." he said in the darkness and hid the smirk when she jumped violently. "Your brother and the rest almost tore my head off for letting you leave."   


"Sorry..." she muttered quietly, and he was grateful for the dark hiding his surprise. She wasn't paying attention to him though, still just watching the kid.   


"Where did he come from?" Inuyasha stepped closer to them.   


"I went to the arena," she said, "and he was there all alone. I couldn't just leave him without anyone to take care of him. He doesn't even have a family... and no one even noticed."   


"Maybe he just didn't want to tell anyone." Inuyasha found himself looking at the kid as well. "Maybe he didn't want sympathy."   


"Some things, you should be able to see without having to be told." Kagome said sadly. "Like someone needs your help, or just needs a friend."   


She gave a sigh and brushed his hair once more. She had gone out to think, to sort out her problems, and this little boy had forced her to put them back in perspective with the rest of the world. Darn the cute little snot.   


"Look," she smoothed the blanket over Shippo and smiled as he cuddled into its warmth. "We didn't get off to a good start, and I understand you don't like me much."   


"You can say that again." he muttered quietly, but not enough for her not to hear and debate hitting him upside his head.   


"The point is," she continued, "we're going to have to be working together for a while right? So, I'd like to make things better between us and maybe try to be friends."   


"You're kidding, right?" he looked at her skeptically.   


"No." she smiled. "And to show you just how serious I am..." she suddenly looked very grave. "I'm sorry I left you in the dirt at the arena and that Koga attacked you."   


"Attacks..." he amended quickly.   


"But anyway," she smiled, "I've squashed my pride a little. So what do you think? Try to be friends?"   


He gave her a shrug. "Whatever." he said and turned back up the stairs.   


Kagome sighed and sat tiredly on the couch, careful not to disturb Shippo. She figured that was about as close to a 'yes' as she was ever going to get. So claiming a momentary victory, she grabbed her notes from the floor and went upstairs to do that last bit of cramming before the morning exam.   


Why did she want to be a doctor again?   


_She doesn't want to leave, she's just wondering  
Is there life out there?_

  


**Next Chapter:** Amarillo by Morning   



End file.
